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Trivial Pursuit
Overview Trivial Pursuit is a board game in which winning is determined by a player's ability to answer general knowledge and popular culture questions. The game was created in December 1979 in Montreal, Quebec, by Canadian Chris Haney, a photo editor for Montreal's The Gazette, and Scott Abbott, a sports editor for The Canadian Press. After finding pieces of their Scrabble game missing, they decided to create their own game. With the help of John Haney and Ed Werner, they completed development of the game, which was released in 1982. In North America, the game's popularity peaked in 1984, a year in which over 20 million games were sold. The rights to the game were initially licensed to Selchow and Righter in 1982, then to Parker Brothers (now part of Hasbro) in 1988, after initially being turned down by the Virgin Group; in 2008 Hasbro bought the full rights, for US$80 million. As of 2004, nearly 88 million games had been sold in 26 countries and 17 languages. Northern Plastics of Elroy, Wisconsin produced 30,000,000 games between 1983 and 1985. In December 1993, Trivial Pursuit was named to the "Games Hall of Fame" by Games magazine. An online version of Trivial Pursuit was launched in September 2003. Dozens of question sets have been released for the game. The question cards are organized into themes; for instance, in the standard Genus question set, questions in green deal with science and nature. Some question sets have been designed for younger players, and others for a specific time period or as promotional tie-ins (such as Star Wars, Saturday Night Live, and The Lord of the Rings movies). How to Play The object of the game is to move around the board by correctly answering trivia questions. Questions are split into six categories, with each one having its own color to readily identify itself; in the classic version of Trivial Pursuit, these are Geography (blue), Entertainment (pink), History (yellow), Arts &Literature (originally brown, later purple), Science & Nature (green), and Sports & Leisure (orange). The game includes a board, playing pieces, question cards, a box, small plastic wedges to fit into the playing pieces, and a die. Playing pieces used in Trivial Pursuit are round and divided into six sections, similar to a pie. A small plastic wedge, sometimes called cheese, can be placed into each of these sections to mark each player's progress. During the game, players move their playing pieces around a track which is shaped like a wheel with six spokes. This track is divided into spaces of different colors, and the center of the board is a hexagonal "hub" space. At the end of each spoke is a "category headquarters" space. When a player's counter lands on a square, the player answers a question according to the color of the square, which corresponds to one of the six categories. If the player answers the question correctly, their turn continues; if the player's piece was on one of the category headquarters spaces, he/she collect a wedge of the same color, which fits into the playing piece. Some spaces say "roll again," giving an extra roll of the die to the player. The hub is a "wild" space; a player landing here may answer a question in the category of his/her choice. Any number of playing pieces may occupy the same space at the same time. A variant rule ends a player's turn on collecting a wedge, preventing a single knowledgeable player from running the board. Once a player has collected one wedge of each color and filled up his/her playing piece, he or she must return to the hub and answer a question in a category selected by the other players. If this question is answered correctly, that player wins the game. Otherwise, the player must leave the center of the board and try again on the next turn. Revisions and Expansions * Trivial Pursuit Master Game - Genus Edition (Original) (1981, Master Game) * Trivial Pursuit - All-Star Sports Edition (1983, Subsidiary Card Set) * Trivial Pursuit Master Game - Baby Boomer Edition (1983, Subsidiary Card Set) * Trivial Pursuit Master Game - Silver Screen Edition (1983, Subsidiary Card Set) * Trivial Pursuit Master Game - Genus II Edition (1984, Subsidiary Card Set) * Trivial Pursuit Master Game - Young Players Edition (1984, released in both Master Game and Subsidiary Card Set editions) * Trivial Pursuit - RPM Edition (1985, Subsidiary Card Set, UK version also released with different box art, unknown if questions differ from US version) * Trivial Pursuit - Welcome to America Edition (1985, Subsidiary Card Set) * Trivial Pursuit Master Game - Walt Disney Family Edition (1985, Subsidiary Card Set) * Trivial Pursuit Featuring the Magic of Disney - Family Edition (1986, partial re-release of 1985 edition in both Master Game and Subsidiary Card Set editions) * Trivial Pursuit Master Game - The 1960's (1986, released in both Master Game and Subsidiary Card Set editions) * Trivial Pursuit for Juniors - First Edition (1987, Master Game) * Trivial Pursuit Master Game - A Genus Edition Volume II (1987) - Coleco Games * Trivial Pursuit Master Game - A Genus Edition Volume II (1987, revised 1989) - Parker Brothers * Trivial Pursuit Master Game - The Vintage Years (1989, released in both Master Game and Subsidiary Card Set editions) * Trivial Pursuit Master Game - The 1980's (1989, released in both Master Game and Subsidiary Card Set editions) * Trivial Pursuit for Juniors - Second Edition (1990) * Trivial Pursuit Master Game - TV Edition (1991, released in both Master Game and Subsidiary Card Set editions) * The Year in Review 1992 (1992, Subsidiary Card Set) * Trivial Pursuit 10th Anniversary (1992, Master Game) * Family Edition (1992) * Trivial Pursuit All American Edition Master Game (1993) * Trivial Pursuit Game Show Edition (1993, Subsidiary Card Set) * The Year in Review 1993 (1994, Subsidiary Card Set) * Genus III (1994) * Junior – Third Edition (1994) * Genus IV (1996) * Junior – Fourth Edition (1996) * Star Wars Classic Trilogy Collector's Edition (1997) * Star Wars Episode I (1998)[not in citation given] * Millennium (1998) * Know-it-All (1998, Subsidiary Card Set) - Winning Moves :: The following three releases reportedly have some questions unique to the regions ::* Know-It-All New England (Winning Moves – very hard to find) ::* Know-It-All New York (Winning Moves – very hard to find) ::* Know-It-All Chicago (Winning Moves – very hard to find) ::* Warner Bros (1999) * Biographies (2000) * Genus V (2000) * Know-It All TP (2000, Subsidiary Card Set, duplicates questions from Winning Moves edition but also includes 32 additional cards) * Junior – Fifth Edition (2001, 1,200 questions, no categories) * 20th Anniversary (2002) * Disney Animated Picture (2002) * Lord of the Rings Movie Trilogy Edition (2003) :: Rather than colors, this edition's categories are indicated with icons: leaf, badge, tree, ring, sword, ⊕ * Volume 6 (2003) * Globe Trotter (2003, Master Game, UK Release) * Pop Culture (2003) * 90's (in metal box) (2004) * Book Lover's Edition (2004) * Trivial Pursuit for Kids – Volume 6 (2004) * Trivial Pursuit for Kids Nickelodeon Edition (2005, Master Game) * Pop Culture 2 (2006) * Totally '80's (2006) * Trivial Pursuit – Greatest Hits (80's, 90's & Pop Culture) (2007)[citation needed] * Trivial Pursuit 25th Silver Anniversary Edition (2008) * Trivial Pursuit - Family '08 (2008) * Trivial Pursuit: The Beatles Collector's Edition (2009) * Trivial Pursuit Team (2009) 9 * Trivial Pursuit Bet You Know It (2010) 10 * Trivial Pursuit Master Edition I (2010) 11 * Trivial Pursuit - The Rolling Stones (2010) 12 * Trivial Pursuit - Disney For All (2011) 1314 * Trivial Pursuit - Classic Rock (2011, Master Game) 15 * Trivial Pursuit - Power Rangers 20th Anniversary Edition (2013) * Trivial Pursuit World of Warcraft Edition (2013, Master Game) * Trivial Pursuit Party (2013) Mini packs Trivial Pursuit mini packs contain 120 cards with 720 questions in the standard six-color format but no categories. * Trivial Pursuit Mini Pack - Sports (1987) * Trivial Pursuit Mini Pack - Rock & Pop (1987) * Trivial Pursuit Mini Pack - The Good Life (1987) * Trivial Pursuit Mini Pack - War & Victory (1987) * Trivial Pursuit Mini Pack - Flicks (1989) * Trivial Pursuit Mini Pack - TV (1989) * Trivial Pursuit Mini Pack - Wild Card (1989) * Trivial Pursuit Mini Pack - Country Music (1993) International editions * Trivial Pursuit - All-Star Sports Edition - Canadian Version (1981) * Trivial Pursuit - Genus II Edition - Canadian Version (1984) * The Good Life Travel card set (1987) (Canada) * War & Victory Travel card set (1987) (Canada) * Bicentennial Edition (1987) (Australia) (Master game set - released in time for the Bicentennial in 1988) * Trivial Pursuit - Édition France (1989) -'' In French, with all questions pertaining to France to honor the bicentennial of the storming of the Bastille Atypical editions/rules * ''Trivial Pursuit Pocket Player Set - Boob Tube (1987) :: The Boob Tube edition has no categories, but the cards still have six questions, each with the usual colors. * Trivial Pursuit Pocket Player Set - TP's People (1987) :: The TP's people edition has no categories, but the cards still have six questions, each with the usual colors. * Picture Pursuit (1994) * In Pursuit (2001) * Bite Sized (2003) Multimedia editions * Star Trek Edition VCR Game (1995) * Millennium CD-ROM (1998) * Pop Culture DVD (2003) * Lord of the Rings DVD (2004) * Saturday Night Live DVD (2004) * Unhinged (Xbox, PS2) (2004) * Star Wars Saga 2 DVD (2005) * Pop Culture DVD 2 (2005) * Trivial Pursuit Digital Choice (2008) * Trivial Pursuit (Wii, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360) (2009) * Trivial Pursuit (iPhone, iPod Touch) (2009) * Doctor Who Trivial Pursuit (board game) (2013) * Trivial Pursuit Live! (PlayStation 4, Xbox One) (2015) Links and References Family Edition Official Rules Pursuing Trivial Pursuit How to Play - wikiHow BoardGameGeek Review Category:Trivia Category:1980s board games Category:Hasbro